Securing your Google Account after a possible hack

A couple friends have recently had security scares with their Gmail account where they were worried that their accounts might have been hacked. I was emailing one of them about how to make sure that your account is safe, and I realized it might be handy to post this on my blog as well.

Here’s the email that I just wrote to a friend:

Here’s what I’d do:
– change your password (make sure you’re on google.com when you change your password)
– check for any strange activity. In Gmail, go to the bottom right and look for a message that looks like “Last account activity: 30 minutes ago. Open in 1 other location” and click on the “Details” link and look for any unusual logins, for example log ins from countries that you haven’t been in recently.
– Also check for weird forwarding rules. If hackers get into your Gmail, sometimes they’ll create a rule that forwards all your email to them. To check your filtering rules, in Gmail click on the gear icon in the top right, then select Settings from the drop down. Click on the link for “Filters” and just check whether there’s any rules that look suspicious to you.

I’m a big fan of two-factor authentication, but I realize that casual users might not want to turn it on. My take is that it’s a lot better to set up two-factor authentication than worry about a hacked account.

24 Responses to Securing your Google Account after a possible hack(Leave a comment)

Thanks Matt, I never knew about the second verification process either… Last year, I had a notification fro Google that my account had a possible hack, ever since then I have changed out password at least every 3 months…. Something else people can do to… =)

Thanks a lot Matt for introducing this interesting and secure rule from the prospects of the Google account security. I like that and also used now. I think it will give benefit to all Google account user who fear for their account being hacked.

This is an awesome post! I’ve had people come to me on many occasions with hacked email account issues. Most of the time I get the phone call from my aunt or cousin saying, “Russ! Please help! I’m sending emails without even knowing it!” Then I have to break the news to them that either someone hacked their account, or that they should deeper consider seeing a neurologist. Then I usually end up going through the 101 reasons why their password shouldn’t be their last name. Then walk them through the steps of re-securing their account. A process that could take hours and result to me going to their house and “fixing their computer”. Sharing this post will no doubt make my life so much easier lol

The two-step authentication seems like a big pain every time you log on. Until you get hacked and you have to spend hours/days restoring your account. Or rebuilding it with a new email address. I wish all email programs used it. My buddy spent two days fixing his account, then he had to inform all of his contacts of his new email address. Talk about a hassle.

This is really a good piece of advice Matt and I just want to add a little bit about your computer security. I believe that it is also important to put an Internet Security in your computer to prevent hacker in getting your username and password especially if you are using windows OS. 🙂